NEWS

Introduction from Autorola CEO & Founder, Peter Grøftehauge

Apr 17, 2018 written by Autorola

The key ambition of every OEM and dealer we meet is for us to help provide them with more insight into the buying habits of their customers. Ultimately the aim of every used car dealer is to use this insight to sell more cars, more quickly for the best possible price, at the same minimising stocking days across their forecourt.

Global interest in INDICATAThis insight is now well and truly available with the launch of our INDICATA real time used vehicle management platform, which provides OEMs and car dealers around the globe with the insights they need to achieve all of the above.

We have lost count of the amount of countries, OEMs, dealer groups, banks and leasing companies that now use INDICATA.

Increased focus on selling used carsIn a period when many countries are experiencing a fall in new car sales more time and resource is being spent on growing used car sales, hence the growing interest in INDICATA.

If it means every dealer using INDICATA sells an extra few cars per month we are proud that we are making a difference for our customers. Long may that continue. Read about some of those successes in our Spring newsletter.

Turkey signs up two OEMs with 113 dealers and 14 brands to INDICATA

Apr 17, 2018 written by Autorola

INDICATA is changing the way OEMs and dealers do business, as it gives a different view of the Turkish used car market. INDICATA has shown users that its real time used vehicle insights helps them sell more used cars and generate more profit.

OEMs who represent 14 brands and 113 dealers have signed up to use INDICATA – DOĞUŞ OTOMOTIV and TOFAŞ GROUP are using it in their head offices and across their dealer networks.

Turkey’s largest corporate used brand adopts INDICATADOĞUŞ OTOMOTIV is the distributor of VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini and Porsche brands, They have Turkey’s first and largest corporate used vehicle brand DOD, established in 1999, has become the symbol of confidence in the sector, since it has developed new projects and studies has strengthened its leadership in the used car sector. They are using INDICATA at its head office and with 55 dealers in all over Turkey.

TOFAŞ GROUP is the distributor of Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Jeep, Ferrari and Maserati and is using INDICATA at its headquarters and with 58 dealers across Turkey.

Strong acceptance of INDICATA in TurkeyINDICATA Turkey began its operations in May 2017 and in eight months signed 58 new customers up to our real time used vehicle management system.

Its partnership with Peugeot goes from strength to strength, helping them monitor their dealer’s performance and to improve the way they do business. The aim is to start working with Peugeot dealers as well in 2018, while the latest OEM to work with INDICATA Turkey is Volvo, where the group has a global alliance.

OTOKOÇ evaluates INDICATA webserviceTurkey’s biggest retail and leasing company OTOKOÇ Otomotiv recently started to evaluate all the running and selling vehicles with the INDICATA webservice. OTOKOÇ Otomotiv today has 36 branches, 72 Avis and 44 Budget offices in Turkey.

The automotive sector in Turkey experienced a tough time in 2017 with new car sales decreasing by 2.8% in 2017 compared to the previous year with 956,194 cars sold. It’s clear that these results are positively affecting the used car market which grew by 10.8% to 7.45m units compared with 2016 (6.7m units sold)

OEMS increase their focus on building used car brandsAll the major players in the automotive sector have started to focus on their brand’s used car operations, because it is not enough to focus on just new cars anymore.

Most of the OEMs have started to develop certified used car projects, to create the infrastructure for dealers to sell their own vehicles in a more structured and efficient way.

In 2018, we have 3 main targets: ❶ to focus on OEMs primarily,❷ to expand the usage of our new product webservice, we believe that especially the big fleet & rental companies, the finance companies, the banks, the OEMs will love to use it.❸ to be the only company who provides the most reliable source of information about used car market in Turkey with several type of reports thanks to Data Warehouse which will be launched in May’18.

So in 2018 INDICATA is becoming the main IT system that is supporting the industry’s used car growth.

Bid Agent helps busy buyers avoid missing out on prime used stock

Autorola has launched Bid Agent which enables buyers to automate their bidding when buying vehicles online.

Used vehicle buyers are busy people and this automated service helps them to avoid missing out on buying prime stock when they unable to bid.

Bid Agent automatically raises a bid by 50 eurosEach time another bidder places their bid, the Bid Agent automatically raises the bid by 50 euros. If another bidder exceeds your set threshold, the Bid Agent sends you a message and you can choose to increase your bid ceiling.

Used car market insights help drive growth for Autorola Sweden and its dealer customers

Apr 17, 2018 written by Autorola

Autorola Sweden has experienced a 284% year-on-year growth in its business thanks to using smart data to help identify issues and opportunities for its dealer customers.

Autorola’s INDICATA real time used vehicle management tool has completely changed the way the Sweden team work. Its powerful local and national used market insights have enabled the team to act as partners/consultants to its customers.The proof is in the numbers as annually the Swedish business has grown experientially.

Smart data helps identify issues and opportunities for dealersBrian Madsen, country manager of Autorola Sweden said: “Before we were “just” a channel for our sellers but now we are using smart data which gives us the upside to identify issues and opportunities by analysing the market and dealer inventory.

“We can now see which cars are fast moving and which are slow-moving. Our performance managers work directly and close with our selling and buying partners and on a daily basis we help them increase the quality of their used car inventory, increase sales and stock turn. That in turn increases profitability on used car operations,” he added.

A fast selling used car inventory is vitalThe value of used cars do not increase over time, so time is important and you need to make sure your used car inventory can sell fast, so dealers need to sell the cars which are slow-moving and buy more fast-moving cars.

Autorola Sweden is offering its partners support to achieve just that and it now exports 78% of the cars on its online portal. In an international environment Autorola’s international connections are key for success.

Dealers have a chance to run the perfect used car inventory“The used car market offers a great opportunity for optimising sales and profits, but the perfect used car inventory is key for any car dealer. INDICATA is enabling dealerships to meet the demands of their customers by providing the right vehicle, at the right price to the right customer,” explained Madsen.

Graph caption:Using SMART DATA as a geo pricing tool we can now see which country/region cars will sell faster and get a better price. This analysis from Sweden shows all models as it is now, but in our daily life we are using this data to analyse our partner dealer inventories and buy backs from leasing/rental to identify opportunities on model and trim level.

New car sales in Italy grew for the fourth year running in 2017 to 2.2 million and with positive GDP growth every month for the past two years the outward appearance is that the country is finally showing signs of shaking off its long-term recession.

But the country’s employment rate remains one of the lowest in Europe.

Trading has been tough for car dealersThe new car sales figures are misleading as manufacturers and dealers continue to offer large incentives to continue stimulating demand. These incentives have forced many car dealers to stop trading and there is still a wide range of consolidation in the industry as businesses search for ways to grow and improve profitability.

Used cars is where many dealers are now concentrating their time, so one year on from the launch of the INDICATA real time used vehicle management system it has seen some strong traction.

INDICATA is driving dealer profitabilityIt provides a swift tonic to helping dealers and OEMs increase used sales. The bigger more professional dealer groups and OEMs appreciate the insights that INDICATA provides will help reduce stocking days. Ultimately profitability is worth investing in.

Its ability to ensure dealers buy the used cars they know are in high demand and avoid those in low demand is a key factor in reducing average stocking days. Being able to also use INDICATA insights to have the confidence to increase prices on a used car a dealer knows is in high demand or in low supply is a major benefit to them. It means Italian dealers can adopt a much more efficient stocking policy which they have welcomed.

Italian used cars are being exported across EuropeCurrently up to 20% of Italian used cars being exported through the Autorola Marketplace online portal are being purchased by German buyers, while Austrian dealers are also buying used cars, not just for selling into the home market, but also for export to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Meanwhile Italian drivers still prefer German cars whenever possible helping the VW group increase sales in 2017. The Far Eastern brands such as Hyundai and Kia continue to increase their market share to compete with home brands such as Fiat.

Diesel sales remain strong in ItalyItaly is one market where diesel sales are still strong – in 2017 they saw diesel sales rise, while hybrid car sales jumped by a massive 71% in 2017.

How the American new and used car and light truck market are faring under the Trump administration

Apr 17, 2018 written by Autorola

The USA new car and light truck market hit 17.25 million units in 2017 supported by big incentives from the OEMs and an increasing GDP. Under the Trump administration’s business oriented policies a reduction in regulation and major tax reform, GDP is expected to strengthen and positively impact all segments of the economy during 2018.

The OEM incentive levels aren’t sustainable, with predictions for the new car market to fall slightly in 2018 as they look to increase their profitability in place of forced sales volumes high. The current forecast is for US light vehicle sales to range between 16.7 million and 16.9 million units.

Premium brands underwrite up to 70% of cars on retail leasesOne trend that continues in the USA is the strength in new retail leases. Some premium brands are underwriting 60-70% of their new light vehicle sales on retail leases’.While this spells good news for OEMs, it isn’t such great news for used residual values with declines reported for cars, while SUVs and crossovers have been increasing recently.

Retail off leases are getting back under controlOff leases from the retail sector increased by 17% from 2016 to 2017. These high volumes coming back into the used market saw used prices fall by 3% during 2017, but predictions are that off leases will increase by just 8% year-on-year with the used market showing signs of getting back under control.A total of 39 million used cars were sold last year with 2018 likely to see that number break the 40 million barrier, despite fewer retail off leases coming to the market. A factor influencing this higher number is due in part to the effect of the new tax reform, which increased take-home pay for many Americans.

Strong demand for 4-5 year used vehiclesThere were major concerns in 2016 and 2017 that there would be fields full of $99-dollar deposit and $99 a month cars coming back from lease, but the general growth of the economy and the fall in unemployment levels have helped create a strong demand for those 4-5-year-old used vehicles.On this basis it’s a pretty good time to be a new and used car retailer in the States. Technology is playing a big part in their life. Up to one in three used cars are now being purchased from the physical auctions by online buyers which shows retailers are becoming more savvy than ever as they spend less time at the auction and more time selling cars to customers.

Dealers are using online used vehicle intelligence to sell more carsA growth in real time used vehicle insight software similar to the Autorola INDICATA system means dealers can identify the cars most in demand locally and what they are being sold for. This allows dealers to buy used cars in a much more strategic fashion and ultimately sell more used cars, reduce stocking days and improve profitability.Another focus for OEMs in the past year or two is to force fewer cars into the rental sector on buy back schemes. Volumes of buy back cars have reduced significantly with rental companies having to buy more of their own cars, which are kept in rental service longer.

Rental companies are buying more of their own risk carsRental companies are keeping these ‘risk’ cars up to 18 months of age before replacing them. That compares with manufacturer buybacks which can range from four to 12 months. This move by the OEMs to restrict buyback slide has been made as they seek to not only make more profit per unit but also as a means of not distressing the used car market.

Leasing companies are using software to optimise replacement cyclesThe fleet sector continues to feed the used market, generally with five to seven-year old stock. Leasing companies are also using newer software tools to understand the best replacement cycles for their clients with a view on maximising disposal efficiency, reinforcing the importance of insights on the remarketing process.2018 looks like another positive year for the US automotive industry with the OEMs continuing to balance volume and profitability.